Elton John

With Elton we are dealing with a pop star who is now fully out but the process for him was not easy – but once he had attained sufficient success he felt he had nothing to lose by coming clean. In my collection I have on mp3 CDs Elton (Your Song)/11-17-70/Honky Chateau/Don’t Shoot The Piano Player/ Yellow Brick Road. Stand alone’s: Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, To Be Continued … 3 cds.I remember buying the Your Song lp with its orange & red spiral Uni label. Studying the pictures of the band, being amazed at the songs themselves – somehow imparting Elton with the sensitivity of the lyrics, when in fact he was merely the singer & the writer of the music. It was Bernie Taupin who wanted to be your song, but Elton’s singing made the melodramatic words seem grounded & possible. The band was smoking too.So emotionally intense was the connection between words & music I was sure there was more between Elton & Bernie but they we brought together thanks to an ad by a music company looking for talent. It wasn’t until much later in the collaboration they would even meet to work on fitting words to music.

I played the next couple of lps grey – Madman Across the Water, Honky Chateau – just another song about teenage suicide. I was loved his persona development. Bowie may have changed in looks but Elton took it to a different more gaudy level & the music was always more ‘populist’ than Bowie. Elton never wandered into experimental explorations he saved his explorations for eye glasses 🙂 He was a more interesting version of Neil Diamond.As he became totally out I lost interest in his music – good but lacked the rock propulsion & freshness as he become more & more middle-of-the-gay-road. Adult pop. I did see him in concert in San Diego in the early 2000 & thought he really should do a jazz album. No singing just pounding away at the piano.

But he’s made queer totally non-threatening, which is a good thing, even if he has established this hetero-norm lifestyle – adopted children & all that. He’s the good queer thanks to the $ he’s put into his own pockets & that of promoters around the world.The last lp of his I bought was Rock of the Westies. Yellow Brick is sprawling & to be honest, Candle in the Wind is a road block of sweetness for me but the rest of it is good. To Be Continued is a 3 cd best of that my Dad had in his collection that I inherited. To round out the mp3 cds there is some great (non-queer) stuff by Billy Joel (he & Elton did tour together) Dr. John, John James, & for contrast Derek & The Dominos – even a sample of a great British blues band The Taste.

Legacy

‘Mark I really didn’t want to help in the first place.’ Dave stepped away from me.

‘Why didn’t you say so?’ I followed him.

‘Because I knew you were counting on me to to help.’

‘True but you still could have said no.’

‘And have you charging around not knowing what you are doing and fuming at me for not helping.’

‘Dave that wouldn’t have happened.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that. You are so much like …’ he stopped.

‘Like who Dave? Like who?’ I knew he was alluding to his first lover, Greg, who had become an abusive manipulating drunk before killing himself. ‘I am Mark. Remember? I’m not anyone else.’

‘Sorry but …’

‘You can say No to me without my going off on some drunken tear and not showing up for days.’

‘I know that but it’s hard to let go of some things. I grew up with it.’

‘So you never hesitate tell me, and I remind you that I am not Greg and I am not your father. I thought you would like to help that’s all. If you didn’t want to that would have been fine. Mental telepathy doesn’t work.’

‘What?’

‘I can’t read your mind. It’s getting so I’m not sure if it is safe to ask you anything. You seem to think one thing then but say another and when you do that we both suffer.’

‘Pardon me for making you unhappy.’

‘Seeing you help with that ‘poor me’ attitude isn’t pleasant. I can’t make you speak your mind and if you want to keep this up you’ll be the one to suffer the most.’

I didn’t know if I wanted to leave things unfinished or get the job done with Dave’s grudging help. ‘I could finish this myself.’

‘Now that I’ve started I might as well finish. It seems I can’t even help right anymore.’

‘Don’t let it get you down. There are some things you do better than anyone else.’

‘Another trait of my Dad’s. He was shit in the kitchen but boy could he barbecue.’